VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawada municipal corporation (VMC) officials are planning to launch boat rides in Eluru and Bandar Canals soon. With an aim to enhance city beautification by transforming the canal bunds into livable spaces, the VMC officials are contemplating beautifying the canals and bunds by making them litter free by developing parks, walking and cycling tracks.
In the second phase, VMC officials are mulling to promote canal tourism by introducing boating in the two canals. “Once we clean the canals and bunds, boating in the canals is possible. The idea is in an intermediate stage and needs to be studied further on implementation and other aspects,” VMC commissioner Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar told TNIE.
In this connection, the VMC officials are making the canals garbage-free and stopping domestic waste and drainage from entering into canals.
“As many as 72 open drainage points were identified and 10 of them were stopped discharging drainage water into canals. Chemical tests at these points were conducted where the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is high. We are taking all necessary measures to bring the BOD value below 10. The measures taken to control the disposal of garbage into canals yielded positive results and a good response from the public. Parks are being developed on either side of canals to bring them in a shape,” he said.
As part of cleaning the canals and ensuring unobstructed water flow by removing all garbage, all the 51 bridges over the canals under city limits were equipped with meshes at a height of 10 feet to prevent littering and imposing spot fines to those violating the orders.
In addition, corporation officials installed CCTV cameras at the bridges to make sure no person threw garbage into the canals.
“All CCTV cameras are linked to the command control room in the main office where all the activities are being monitored and action would be taken against violators. We are planning to develop all the canals on the lines of Paris and other European countries to promote canal boat tourism,” Swapnil explained.